Mother Jones back issues from November 2007:
Editors' Note
Nov 01, 2007; ... IT WAS NEVER REALLY UP FOR DEBATE: We are leaving Iraq. This will not happen as quickly or as cleanly as we might wish, but there's no ignoring two fundamental realities. One, any incoming administration will want to rid itself of this albatross. And two, the military is tapped out. A volunteer ...
Backtalk
Nov 01, 2007; ... Jennifer Gonnerman's exposé on the Judge Rotenberg Center, a special-needs school that uses electric shock as punishment, elicited strong reactions from scores of parents, alumni, staff, and readers. A sampling: "This kind of thing can go on because it's so outlandish and so evil that ...
CONSPIRACY WATCH: BEAM ME UP
Nov 01, 2007; ... THE CONSPIRACY: Iraq is home to ancient "stargates," portals into distant galaxies built by the Anunnaki, the same aliens who constructed the Sumerian ziggurats. For years, the United States unsuccessfully tried to get these teleportation devices out of the hands of Saddam Hussein. So George W ....
the cheese bomb incident
Nov 01, 2007; ... PERFECT TIMING Sara Weiss was flying home to Long Island after visiting her son in San Diego for the Fourth of July. On her way out to California, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspectors at JFK Airport had questioned Weiss about four old, heavily patched ice packs in her ...
TOURIST TRAP
Nov 01, 2007; ... Don't have a Civil War battlefield, aquarium, or giant ball of string? How about the local lockup? Across the nation, communities have turned some 40 old jails and prisons into tourism sites. At the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, shuttered in 1995 after the state ...
southern inhospitality
Nov 01, 2007; ... MANASSHOLES On a hot August afternoon at the Prince William County Fair in northern Virginia, Greg Letiecq tried to make eye contact with passersby gorging themselves on funnel cakes and cotton candy. Standing before a booth draped with American flags and "Help Save Manassas" signs, ...
barbarians at the capitol
Nov 01, 2007; ... EQUITY'S NEW CLOTHES History is pietty clear on this one: Whenever the finance industry discovers a path to quick investment riches for a select few-S&Ls, junk bonds, Long-Term Capital Management, Enron, the list goes on-a massive reckoning can't be far behind. Today's implosion in ...
murder, he wrote
Nov 01, 2007; ... BURIED LEDE Chauncey Bailey, unlike most black men whose brains are blown out on the streets of Oakland, could not be ignored. The first targeted killing of a journalist on American soil in more than a decade demanded the obeisance of the mayor, the congresswoman, and the national press ...
watercoolered
Nov 01, 2007; ... THE CIA'S DOUBLE-SECRET PROBATION As she walks to her table at a Georgetown restaurant, Janine Brookner looks pleasant, harmless, vaguely academic; with her blond bob and cream pantsuit, you'd figure her for a literature professor. But only until she starts to talk about her long tenure ...
THE HONOR SYSTEM
Nov 01, 2007; ... What happens when manufacturers are left to police themselves ZENITH PROJECTION TVS In the early morning of October 20, 1998, 13-year-old Stephanie Arzie and her 10-year-old brother Michael were killed when their family's large-screen Zenith projection TV caught fire. The company had ...
You're Not the Regulator of Me
Nov 01, 2007; ... China gets the blame for this year's wave of recalls-but American industry has been working for years to gut government safety standards. I LATE ONE AFTERNOON in October 2006, Carolyn and Ghassan Daher took their five-year-old son Brayden to a party near Seattle. Kids got goody bags ...
OUT NOW, ASK QUESTIONS LATER?
Nov 01, 2007; ... Six challenges for antiwar activists Q: After American troops withdraw, will the violence in Iraq escalate? "I don't even think it is a fair question. There is no guarantee with anything in life. Anybody who says, Oh, if we pull out on this timeline or do it exactly this way, ...
fightin' words
Nov 01, 2007; ... A Short Lexicon of Iraq War Lingo GROUNDHOG DAY: another day on duty in Iraq DEAD CHECK: to put bullets in a lifeless body to ensure it's dead BAGHDAD CLOCK: Iraq's own timeline for progress, usually set several months behind the Washington clock ALL-AMERICAN ...
THE WASHINGTON CLOCK
Nov 01, 2007; ... When it comes to planning withdrawal, the American electoral calendar may matter a lot more than the latest news from Iraq. COMING SOON: "We're going home. It doesn't matter who's president. Nobody's gonna want this albatross around their necks. Whoever gets elected wants a second term, ...
EXITING IRAQ: NOW OR NEVER?
Nov 01, 2007; ... As Congress began taking stock of the surge, we asked more than 50 policy and military experts their opinions and predictions on when the United States could-and should-start withdrawing from Iraq. THE SOONER THE BETTER "From the standpoint of all the American interests involved, ...
Making Tracks: Getting a tank unit out of Iraq
Nov 01, 2007; ... An M1 Abrams tank is worth $4.3 million. The 70-ton machine gets 0.6 miles per gallon. Driving from Baghdad to Kuwait would use 574 gallons of gas. So tanks will behauled out on flatbed trucks. Once in Kuwait, the tank will undergo a detailed cleaning and inspection that can take ...
ROAD WARRIORS
Nov 01, 2007; ... The logistics of moving the American military out of Iraq NO SWEAT: "Don't worry about the logistics. The logistics is the easy part." -General Wesley Clark (retired), former supreme allied commander, Europe INSPECT YOUR GADGETS: "I think it'll take at least 12 to 18 months to do ...
Drop Your Weapons
Nov 01, 2007; ... The U.S. military never leaves a man behind. Equipment is another story. Humvee Fact: The Army is spending $25 billion to replace it with the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected truck. Coming Home? "Humvees are going the way of the dodo. They got so beat to hell with the ...
THE BAD, THE WORSE, AND THE UGLY
Nov 01, 2007; ... Scenarios for a post-occupation Iraq Let's just get the wishful thinking out of the way first Peace won't break out if and when the United States leaves Iraq; violence will continue, and possibly get worse. That's not a rationale for leaving the troops in place, just a hard reality. How ...
THE DAY AFTER
Nov 01, 2007; ... Iraqis can't figure out what will happen to their country after we go home. Neither can our experts. BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL: "I think the suffering in Iraq is much greater continuing the war than it would be if we end it by coming home. The Iraqis will survive our departure. They've ...
Speak Softly: Getting the diplomats back on the job
Nov 01, 2007; ... BACK TO THE TABLE: "One of the big things that this administration has failed to do is prepare the region diplomatically for our ultimate withdrawal. We know we are coming out of there, so what can we do to make it a little bit more elegant? But this administration has just ignored the ...
THE LEFT BEHIND
Nov 01, 2007; ... Facing Iraq's refugee crisis-and the exodus to come. THE LOST CINIRATIOM: "We've been asking the State Department what kind of contingency plan, if any, they're looking at, not just for refugees but also for all the people who are displaced inside Iraq. What we're getting are very vague ...
Johnson's List: Why won't we help the Iraqis who helped us?
Nov 01, 2007; ... A former USAID reconstruction coordinator in Iraq, Kirk Johnson is doing what the Bush administration will not: Compiling a list of hundreds of Iraqis who have worked with the Americans and would like to be evacuated for their safety. Sixty percent of the people on his list have already fled; ...
Apocalypse Then: Paying the price for American intervention in Vietnam
Nov 01, 2007; ... The pullout: American troop levels peaked in 1969. The United States withdrew in 1973. Saigon fell two years later. The price: The war cost the United States an estimated $560 to $805 billion (in 2006 dollars). 58,000 Americans were killed. More than 1 million Vietnamese were ...
YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN
Nov 01, 2007; ... Think withdrawal would mean we've left Iraq for good? Think again. GET COMFORTABLE: "The first time Al Qaeda in Iraq blows up our embassy in Amman, Jordan, guess what? We're back in. The first time the Iranian influence becomes so great that they begin to incite and meddle with the ...
MIRACLE IN RAMADI?
Nov 01, 2007; ... The Bush administration says the recent "Anbar Awakening" heralds a new way of winning in Iraq. The truth is more complicated. TRUTHINESS Anbar is evidence of the surge's success and that of General David Petraeus. TRUTH Bush benefited from lucky timing. Sunni ...
SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY
Nov 01, 2007; ... PETIR BERGEN & PAUL CRUICKSHANK | Bush administration propaganda notwithstanding, Al Qaeda was not a factor in Iraq before the U.S. invasion. But it is now-and any withdrawal plan needs to deal with the demons we helped create. A gathering threat from Iraq, a safe haven for Al Qaeda; ...
DAMNED IF WE DO
Nov 01, 2007; ... Grappling with America's moral obligation to the Iraqi people IM OUR NAME: "We owe the Iraqis because we've been letting them down ever since the first Gulf War. Your conscience is not clean just because you're a peace demonstrator. The government is us and the moral obligation is with ...
Family Snapshot: Odds that a member of this Iraqi family...
Nov 01, 2007; ... Odds that a member of this Iraqi family ... * has died as a result of the war: as high as 1 in 38 ...and died violently: 1 in 2 * doesn't get enough food: 1 in 6 * has access to clean water: 1 in 3 * has been displaced within lraq: 1 in 11 * has left Iraq: ...
Did I Steal My Daughter?
Nov 01, 2007; ... The answers are never easy when you enter the labyrinth of global adoption. I FIRST MET MY DAUGHTER in the lobby of the Westin Camino Real, the grandest hotel in Guatemala City. The night before, my husband Walter and I had soothed our nerves running on the treadmills in the fitness ...
The 50-Year Strategy
Nov 01, 2007; ... Beyond '08: Can progressives play for keeps? A CONSERVATIVE PRESIDENT who is deeply unpopular with Americans. A country facing profound economic and security challenges. New technologies upending old media. A cohort of new immigrants and a bulging generation of young people ready to ...
Fight the Power
Nov 01, 2007; ... Can Hip-Hop Get Past the Thug Life and Back to Its Radical Roots? JERRY QUICKLEY, hip-hop poet, performance artist, and war correspondent, has seen hell. It is a post-"liberated" Baghdad street, jammed with beat-up Brazilian and Czech sedans spewing trails of carbon monoxide, clouds of ...
Rap of Ages: A Timeline
Nov 01, 2007; ... 1970 In "Sex Machine" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose," JAMES BROWN records classic funk break beat, which becomes the foundation of hip-hop. 1967-68 FBI Chief I. EDGAR HOOVER directs COINTELPRO to destroy the Nation of Islam and * BLACK PANTHER PARTY, clearing way for gangs to recruit ...
The Yield of Magical Thinking
Nov 01, 2007; ... Can the wizardry of biodynamic farming save organics? Or even your soul? THE MAKING OF Preparation 503 began just after dawn on a cold October morning at Stephen Decater's Live Power Community Farm. As the sun rose over Northern California's bucolic Round Valley, Decater waited near the ...
How the West Might Be Won
Nov 01, 2007; ... The Dems' next big gamble: Sway enough disgruntled conservatives to take Nevada, the West, and the White House. DRIVE INTO Fallon, Nevada. pop. 8, 403, through the usual thicket of Burger Kings, Wal-Marts, and Subways, and you find yourself in a Western town from central casting, ...
Taste the Magic
Nov 01, 2007; ... TASTING WINE is best done in natural light and with real wine glasses. We had neither, but that didn't stop us from blind taste-testing California syrahs to see if we could swirl and sniff our way through the biodynamic hype. The verdict: You get what you pay for. Here's our in-house oenophiles' ...
Grape Britain?
Nov 01, 2007; ... THE LAST TIME England had a reputation for its wine was more than 700 years ago, when British monks took advantage of the 400-year-long Medieval Warm Period to grow and press grapes. Today, a new round of climate change is putting the Island's wines back on the map. Thanks to its newly ...
Schlock and Awwww
Nov 01, 2007; ... ESSAY Schlock and Awwww Every week, Ty Pennington brings the American Dream to a deserving family. What a freakin' jerk. "IN CHARITY," Francis Bacon wrote, "there is no excess." But then Bacon never saw Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which since 2003 has been meting out ...
Grace Under Fire
Nov 01, 2007; ... In 2005, filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine went to northern Uganda to make a film about children abducted by shadowy rebels known as the Lord's Resistance Army. There, the couple met a group of schoolchildren in a refugee camp who dreamed of entering the annual national music competition ....
Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness
Nov 01, 2007; ... BOOKS Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness By Christopher Lane. Yale University Press. $27.50. "Shyness is nice, and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to," Morrissey once sang. It's a wonder that this classic Smiths song was never used in an ad ...
Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity
Nov 01, 2007; ... Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity By Anne Elizabeth Moore. The New Press. $15.95. Conversational, intellectually curious, and charmingly ragged, Unmarketable is an anticorporate manifesto with a difference: It exudes raw coolness. It's the ...
Dance Dance Revolution
Nov 01, 2007; ... BOOTS RILEY'S PARTY POLITICS Onstage with the Coup, Raymond "Boots" Riley delivers a high-volume blast of social critique and humor, awash in layers of funk beats, heavy bass lines, loud guitar riffs, and old-school record-scratching. Offstage, the 36-year-old Oakland, California-based ...
WAKE-UP CALLS
Nov 01, 2007; ... WAKE-UP CALLS Get your politics on M.I.A., KALA: The culture-jamming daughter of a Tamil revolutionary travels around the world and brings home a brilliant work of solidarity in rhythm and rhyme. The hip-hop generation's answer to the Clash's Sandinista! KANYB WEST, ...
Obligatory Villagers
Nov 01, 2007; ... Obligatory Villagers Nellie McKay. Hungry Mouse. Throwing daggers with a smile, young New York iconoclast Nellie McKay uses a cheery delivery and bright, Broadway-friendly tunes to mask subversive intentions on her exuberant third album. The jaunty piano shuffle "Mother of Pearl" ...
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Nov 01, 2007; ... Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace Foo Fighters. Roswell/RCA. Though Dave Grohl earned immortality as one-third of Nirvana, his current band is also sneaking up on greatness. Employing the same soft-to-loud dynamics as his old grunge outfit, the drummer-turned-f ront-man now ...
Washington Square Serenade
Nov 01, 2007; ... Washington Square Serenade Steve Earle. New West. After more than two decades in action, Steve Earle still finds new ways to tweak blues, folk, and country conventions. On his first outing in three years, the troubadour's drawling voice, a mix of toughness and good -ol'-boy ...
The Scene of the Crime
Nov 01, 2007; ... The Scene of the Crime Bettye LaVette. Anti-. Like a bumpy country road, sixtysomething Southern R&B veteran Bettye LaVette's singing is full of rough spots, all the better to spotlight her thrilling intensity. Continuing the resurgence that began in 2005 with I've Cot My Own ...
Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System
Nov 01, 2007; ... Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System By Roberto Saviano. Farrar, Straw and Giroux. $25. With its hyperventilating subtitle and bloodstained cover, Gomorrah looks like a typical true-crime thriller. But don't let the ...
Manufactured Landscapes
Nov 01, 2007; ... FILM Manufactured Landscapes Zeitgeist Films. 86 minutes. Debris is the true protagonist of this film: staggering amounts of waste that, when captured in just the right light, look more like art than trash. It's only fitting that waste gets its star turn in a film about ...
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox
Nov 01, 2007; ... Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox Reckon So Productions. 88 minutes. If you've ever purchased a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, you've no doubt wondered what's up with the rambling phrases crammed onto the label, with their references to the "Moral ABC," "All-OneGod-Faith," and ...